1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an in-line skate, more particularly to an in-line skate with inclined wheels that are inclined relative to a vertical plane.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a conventional in-line skate disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. RE35,993. The in-line skate includes a frame 11, and front and rear wheels 12, 14 and a middle wheel 13 mounted rotatably on the frame 11. The front and middle wheels 12, 13 cooperatively define a first tangent plane 2 tangential to the bottoms of the front and middle wheels 12, 13. The rear and middle wheels 14, 13 cooperatively define a second tangent plane 2′ tangential to the bottoms of the rear and middle wheels 14, 13. The first and second tangent planes form an obtuse angle in such a manner that either the front and middle wheels 12, 13 or the rear and middle wheels 14, 13 are simultaneously in rolling contact with the ground plane, which implies that the front and rear wheels 12, 14 cannot simultaneously contact the ground plane during skating. The construction of the aforesaid in-line skate is to achieve better cornering and high speeds. However the construction shortens the effective length of the wheelbase to about halve the skate length and it also reduces the number of wheels that engage the ground effectively and therewith the attainable speed. It is general knowledge that attainable speeds become higher with a longer wheelbase and a consecutive number of wheels that effectively engage the ground.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,398,230 discloses a modified v-line skate that includes a pair of first inclined wheels which are inclined in a first direction relative to a vertical plane, and a pair of second inclined wheels which are inclined in a second direction opposite to the first direction. The first and second inclined wheels are alternately aligned in a longitudinal direction. The aforesaid v-line skate is disadvantageous in that only one of the pairs of the first and second inclined wheels will be in rolling contact with the ground plane during the pendulous skating motion, i.e., when the skater leans toward the first direction, only the first inclined wheels will be in effective rolling contact with the ground plane, and when the skater leans toward the second direction, only the second inclined wheels will be in effective rolling contact with the ground plane.
The disclosures of the aforesaid patents are incorporated herein with reference.